You have the power to avoid/reduce those pesky sugar cravings like the three o'clock slump by maintaining a nice balanced blood sugar level!
Throughout the course of a normal day - sugar levels will rise and fall as your body digests your food. This rise and fall is entirely normal.. but what is the reason for this natural ebb and flow?
After eating your body breaks down your food into simple , useable forms of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. We need these simple molecules to survive
Glucose - a simple carbohydrate (sugar) is what our body uses to produce energy. Glucose is what we need to keep our batteries fully charged.
Once we have digested our food, glucose gets' absorbed into our blood stream, via our intestines. This absorption raises our blood glucose (sugar) levels considerably.
Insulin - a hormone produced by our pancreas, has the important job of bringing glucose to the cells, where it will be used as energy, stored as glycogen in the liver or stored as fat.
Insulin works like the key that opens the door into cells allowing the glucose in our blood to pass through. Throughout the day we require energy to function, our brain alone burns up to 600 calories of glucose a day.. just so we can think! Our sugar levels naturally drop as we use it up. Once we have reached a certain low level we can start to get cravings or get hungry. Our body wants a new supply of nutrients!
Now here's the rub! - Carbohydrates are needed in our diet but if we eat too much of it we get a larger rise in our sugar levels. This leads to
- excess glucose being stored as fat. It can also be stored as glycogen in our livers but any excess gets converted to Fat unfortunately.
- Higher highs means lower lows. We get a more dramatic subsequent drop in our blood sugar levels causing strong cravings and that all to familiar 3pm slump! Personally I get crabby and unfriendly too! Not such a nice atmosphere if you have an office full of people on a sudden low blood sugar slump!
These dramatic drops in your sugar levels stimulates you into wanting snacks. And if we are in the habit of grabbing anything that's easy like a bar or a packet of crisps then we are in trouble.
Processed foods are packed with complex carbohydrates. These foods have a very high glycemic Index. (High GI) This means that they release glucose very fast into your blood stream causing another dramatic rise in your sugar levels, continuing the circle of the high highs' and low lows'
This is why it is so important to eat healthy! Foods that have a lower Glycemic Index is a good way to start. They release their glucose at a slower, steadier pace. This means you blood sugar levels are nice and stable. They help maintain a nice and natural ebb and flow to your sugar levels. Food cravings become less frequent and strong making it much more manageable.
Click Here for a table on some Low GI foods that I talked about in a previous post
Eating too much carbohydrates can make you feel sleepy! Carbohydrates have quite an impact on our brain chemistry. They can increase serotonin production, which is a hormone that produces a calming, sleep inducing effect on the body
So if you are feeling peckish - snack on nuts or something else high on protein. Protein can increase levels of dopamine and noradrenalin, neurotransmitters responsible for mental energy. It will help you keep you awake and productive!
Myrthe Wieler
